Orphans
by fieryashes91597
Summary: Throughout Konoha's history, Team 7 has always been a team of orphans.


Team 7 has always been a team of orphans, although what that meant exactly varied largely depending on circumstances.

* * *

The death of Orochimaru's parents and the reasonably large sum of money the left behind led him to seclude himself in his own new apartment. He bolstered this seclusion by locking himself away to study jutsu and experiment, determinedly alone. He couldn't have any useless distractions.

Jiraiya's circumstances led him to the orphanage. The people were nice enough but there was no such thing as personal space or property in such a small, overcrowded place. So Jiraiya spent as little time there as possible. Instead, he was always out searching for something to claim as his own.

Tsunade's circumstances allowed her to stay in her family home in the Senju compound. She still had her grandfather, granduncle, grandmother, and, most importantly, Nawaki. Tsunade spent every second she could with him. The lack of parental love only served to focus and concentrate her love on her little brother.

* * *

Minato's circumstances led him to an artisan's shop. He was adopted by a civilian couple and lived with them above their shop in the bustling commercial center. He often helped them to make the merchandise. Once, he even convinced a certain redheaded girl to buy one of his carved figures of the Hokage monument.

Kushina's circumstances led her to live in the Hokage tower. In order to keep her close and keep tabs on her, the village leaders gave her the rooms in which her old relative Mito spent her last years. She spent her time running from the ANBU sent to guard her and beating up anyone who dared insult her red hair.

Mikoto's circumstances led her to live with her future in-laws. She had been promised since birth to their son Fugaku so they took her in easily as a future member of the family. She spent her time avoiding her betrothed and befriending the least Uchiha-like girl in the village.

* * *

Rin's circumstances kept her within the Inuzuka compound. The clan was so used to caring for stray pups that a stray child was taken in easily, immediately, and warmly. The Inuzuka clan was really just one large pack and Rin spent her time training all the stray puppies that wandered into her home.

Obito's circumstances led him to live with his grandmother. He spent a lot of his time trying to catch up to one teammate and impress the other. But mostly, he helped out the elderly around the village, all of whom reminded him so much of the grandmother who loved him back home.

Kakashi's circumstances left him alone in a nice, empty house. He had no large clan or family, just a large house passed down from father to son. He spent his time cleaning the place religiously and reading. His books taught him all sorts of practical things, like fishing and cooking, things that no one else was around to teach him.

* * *

Sasuke's circumstances left him an entire compound filled with ghosts. In order to escape them, he moved into a fancy private apartment and spent his time brooding, avoiding people, and training vigorously. He was nursing plans of vengeful murder and that's all there was to any of it.

Naruto's circumstances led him to a small, old, village-sponsored apartment. It was all he needed. He lived amid angry glares when he wasn't being completely ignored. He spent his time pulling pranks in hopes of being acknowledged and promising to become a ninja who surpasses everyone.

Sai's circumstances led him to ROOT. He was left with a deficit of emotion, poor social skills, a dead bother, and a curse seal on his tongue. He spent his time painting and following orders. He also read in order to learn how to properly be human, wondering why someone would feel the need to name a painting.

Sakura...Sakura was the exception, the only exception in a long, persistent line. It cast a shadow over her, like a brooding warning that something would happen, soon, and she'd be forced to take her place with the rest of Team 7 as an orphan.

She'd glance furtive looks at her parents, half expecting them to disappear if she looked away for too long, wondering if they would still be there when she returned from long missions. They nagged her too much and had way too many weird quirks, but the thought of losing them set a heavy weight on her shoulders and caused her lungs to squeeze uncomfortably. She often had to remind herself that she didn't believe in fate or curses.

That is, until her test results came back.

It was a simple assignment from Lady Tsunade, who insisted that Sakura practice blood tests on her own blood so that she had experience before dealing with real important work. The idea was that she could check her results based on the facts she already knew about herself. Tsunade was pissed when the results came back; she didn't understand how Sakura could screw up the tests so completely. So Sakura had to do the assignment again...and she got the same results.

They weren't her parents. Her blood could be traced back to the Hidden Waterfall Village. She didn't have a single drop of Haruno, or even Konoha, blood in her. Sakura had always been an orphan.

Thoughts raced by with questions about her lost heritage and her biological parents and why her adoption wasn't in her records and why her parents never told her, but really only one thing mattered. She was already an orphan. There was no curse or harsh fate coming to take away the only parents she had ever known. And just like that the heavy weight was gone and she breathed deeply and easily, and she must have been the happiest person ever to find out she was an orphan.


End file.
